Solid state drives can include non-volatile solid-state memory, such as flash memory. Flash memory can include an improved form of Electrically-Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM). Traditional EEPROM devices are only capable of erasing or writing one memory location (e.g., a memory cell) at a time. In contrast, flash memory allows multiple memory locations to be erased or written in one programming operation. Flash memory can thus operate at a higher speed compared to traditional EEPROM.
Solid-state memory has a number of advantages over other storage devices. For example, it generally offers faster read access times and better shock resistance than a hard disk drive (HDD). Unlike dynamic random access memory (DRAM), solid-state memory is generally non-volatile, meaning that data stored in flash memory is not lost when power to the memory is removed. These advantages, and others, may explain the increasing popularity of flash memory for storage applications in devices such as memory cards, USB flash drives, mobile phones, digital cameras, mass storage devices, MP3 players and the like.